Untangling Poppy
by kabooom
Summary: Taught her whole life never to let herself love others, Poppy finds herself conflicted when the Benedict family appear in London on holiday with their adopted eighth son. Will Tristan be able to untangle her from her past or will she find herself unable to love her soulfinder?
1. Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Poppy

Slipping on my worn black waterproof, and placing my feet in a pair of crimson wellies, I braced myself for the assault of British weather sure to perfect the whole windswept damp hair look that i was going for. I grabbed my duffel back, and tripping over the doorstep, I ran for the cover of my car.

Well ... when I say car.

My rusty pickup truck stuttered to a start, once, twice, eleven times before the engine caught and I twisted in my seat to maneuver the narrow driveway to my house. My house, that I shared with my 7 other gifted members of my family. 1 savant Mum, 1 savant Dad, and 5 bitchy savant sisters to share them between. I counted myself out of that number, no way was I getting stuck in the whole 'mum and dad attention spiral' thing. Not again anyway.

I pulled into my destination and cut the engine. Clambering over the lumpy seats, I grabbed my bag and swung through the non-existent back window. Patting the sky blue chipped paintwork I prayed that wasn't the last run for my baby. I leapt down from the creaking trunk and strode across the barren car park towards the street, before rounding the corner and heaving open large wooden doors. I was tempted to use my savant Telekinesis powers, but knowing that I would be seen in the broad daylight, I mustered all the strength I retained in my arms and pushed.

Tristan

You know, there's something to be said about fate. You never know when that son of a bitch is gonna crack his iron whip, but you sure as hell know you're gonna feel the consequences. I dragged a hand roughly through my hair and wondered where the hell that had come from. I'm not normally a deep thinker, and I certainly wasn't planning on become a boy with hidden layers any time soon. As I wandered down London's unfamiliar streets I found myself walking in a circle, yet it was only on my third time round my route that I noticed the music drumming from a shabby little building to my left.

Blinds pulled at the windows foiled my plan to inconspicuously discover the source of the beat, but I was eager for a distraction, and so I slipped easily through the heavy wooden doors into a scruffy foyer, following the sound of the music through a corridor and into a mirrored well lit studio.

A willowy girl stood in the middle of the space, her golden curls falling carelessly down her back. Her eyes were drawn shut but I could tell she wasn't confused, she was waiting for something. The music swelled into a chorus, and the girl snapped into reality. She slid her arms through the air and pivoted on one foot before falling gently to the floor and kicking into a side split, her body arching back and her arms dropping to her sides. In one swift movement she was up again, twirling and leaping before sliding into a series of complicated kicks.

The way she moved was stunning, her red leotard and tiny black shorts highlighted her slender figure, and her golden locks never once remained still. There was something about the way she moved, I couldn't drag my eyes away even though I knew she'd see me.


	2. Chapter 2

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Poppy

My music ended and the silence rang in my ears as I fell to the ground exhausted. I sighed, knowing I would never get it quite right and closed my eyes to enjoy the peacefulness.

Slow claps reverberated around the walls.

I gave out a small yelp as I realised there was a tall chestnut haired boy leaning nonchalantly against the doorway to my studio. Standing up so suddenly I had a head rush, I casually fell back to the ground again with a small bump, and shook my head to clear my vision.

'Woah, are you okay?' he drawled in a lazy American accent. His forehead creased in concern and I was trying not to notice the way his grey t-shirt stuck to his toned stomach, and showed off his muscled arms.

I ignored the handsome stranger peeking in on my dance practice, and ran to remove my iPod from the dock. I sensed movement behind me, and was not surprised that when I turned back round, he was making his way over to where I was standing.

The guy didn't pick up on my death stares, and stuck his hand out to me. I shook it cautiously, inspecting his tanned face as I did so. His wavy hair framed chiseled features, and his eyes showed kindness, not mocking.

I still didn't trust him.

'Why are you here?' I retrieved my hand quickly from his grasp.

He waited a second to reply as if deciding whether to be serious or not.

'Oh you know, just taking in the sights of London' His brown eyes glinted and he grinned.

Wrong answer.

I grabbed my bag and stalked towards the door, not daring to look back at his expression on the way out. He wouldn't let me go that easily however.

'Is that all I get?' He questioned me. 'Four words?'

My annoyance at this random stranger got the better of me, and I accidentally lifted a couple of centimeters of the ground.

That's my gift. Flight.

I hoped that he hadn't noticed, but his face gave away his shock and confusion.

'Yes' I nodded and hurried through the door, answering his previous question. My feet echoed as I ran down the dim corridor. I was just about to pull open the dreaded doors when I heard in my head

_That's five now_

A savant stranger turning up unexpectedly in the abandoned warehouse I had converted into my dance studio.

A savant stranger who had risked making a bridge between the two of us, using telepathy to communicate, even though he didn't know me.

A savant stranger who had penetrated my shields, which were extremely strong due to protection against selfish, prying family members.

I felt a strange connection between us, almost as if ...

**no.**

Soulfinders were lies told by savants to create an illusion of hope. People who searched for them were stupid, and the ones who turned dark because of the absence of a soulfinder were even stupider.

I was my own person, with no belief in another half to cloud my judgement, but I sprinted out of the door, away from the danger anyway.

Tristan

And just like that she was gone. I still remembered her ocean blue eyes, and how she had seemed so vulnerable when she was dancing. Stripped of all worry and concern.

How quickly that had disappeared when she knew I was there.

She was perfection, with her delicate features and ruthless gaze, but she had slipped from my grasp. She could not be my soulfinder. The universe would not have let her escape so easily.

So why did I revisit the same place at the same time the next day? And the day after? Why could I not let this girl go? Why did I keep playing over in my mind the way she ran a hand carelessly through her hair when she was confused? Why did I keep remembering the cute way she over-eagerly got up and had to sit back down again? How come she had to be the one I remembered?

I didn't even know her name.

All I knew was that she was a flight.

A beautiful talented savant with the rare gift of flight, who had slipped between my fumbling fingers.


	3. Chapter 3

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****Poppy

Four days later I still couldn't get that idiot out of my head. He kept popping up at irregular moments, whenever I was reminded of something remotely american, or whenever someone mentioned dancing. He Waltzed into my mind when someone talked about an attractive person or even when I saw the colour grey.

This wasn't normal.

Don't get me wrong, I still loathed the guy. So how could I like him as well?

One thing I knew for sure, I could never love my soulfinder, even if it wasn't him. Not after seeing the 'soulfinder bond' in my parents. They tore each other apart every day of my childhood, and left my sisters and I scarred for life. We grew up never fully trusting family, because we couldn't see how a 'love' like our parents shared could ever end up with something beautiful.

Samelie, my oldest sister murdered her own soulfinder when he came looking for her, because she was so scared of the pain he would bring with him.

My other sisters are equally ruined, but all in their own ways. Alex uses her mind manipulation powers to get everything she wants, and every boy she wants. She uses them and tosses them away, like empty milk cartons. My youngest sister is 10, and she has yet to even discover her gift. She is so scared that she won't have one that she rejects all evidence of savant life. She won't speak to Mum or Dad, or any of the rest of our family and she hates the idea of contact with another gifted one. She's quite strong-minded for a 10 year old.

I'm the middle child, along with Casey and Charlie. A triplet.

They hate me.

So you can see how I don't have so much faith in love or trust in soulfinder nonsense.

I cast all thoughts of the stranger from my head, and focused instead on preparing for the Savant ball, hosted by the Benedict family. I slipped on my baby blue dress, and fixed my hair in a messy bun, with several strands escaping to make my face feel less bare.

'POPPY GET DOWN HERE WE'RE GONNA BE LATE.' My mum called up to me, and I rushed out of the room, grabbing a black clutch on the way out.

My mum started to call again just as I was running down the stairs. 'FOR GODS SAKE PO-'

She turned around, and seeing me standing there in front of her gave up shouting. With a disgruntled look on her face she started rounding up my other sisters.

'Nice dress,' sneered Casey. 'Really -'

'Gross.' Charlie tried to finish her sentence. She gave Casey a harsh look and said 'What the hell Case! I thought we were trying to put her down, not build her confidence.'

Casey gave a disgruntled snort and pushed her sister out of the door. ' Oh my God could you be any stupider? I was using sarcasm dumbo.'

Tristan

I slumped down in my seat. I was surrounded by rich, well dressed savants, all pretending to converse intelligently with other savants. The high, arched ceilings of the London ballroom created an echoey underlying tune to the classical music, and couples tried desperately to dance in time with the confusion of rhythms.

One large chandelier highlighted the centre of the room, lighting the polished oak dance floor, and drawing attention away from the partners standing on each others toes. The circular table where I was seated was positioned with the others, around the edges of the ballroom, and was encircled with 6 intricately decorated high backed chairs.

They were not comfortable.

I had been asked by my parents to sit at a table where I knew no one, in order to evenly spread the Benedict family through the room, and as my family were hosting the event, I saw it as an order not a plead. I would much rather have sat with Xav, or Yves and made fun of rich leeches eating away at our money, but I wanted to keep my parents happy so I did as they said.

An hour came and went, and the empty seat next to me was not occupied. It was only five minutes until dinner was served that I heard the scrape of wood on wood and looked to my left to see a wave of blue and gold hair attempting to pull the heavy chair out from the table.

I kicked it with my foot from under the table and she looked up to thank me.

My jaw dropped and I saw her eyes darting around the room for a quick escape, but she was too late, waiters were milling everywhere with drinks and trays of food.

The girl.

She had not left my mind since I had first seen her, and my heart literally skipped a beat when I looked into those sapphire eyes once more.

**Sorry I'm drawing this out quite a bit:) I promise they'll get talking soon xox**


	4. Chapter 4

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Tristan

'_Shit'_ She swore under her breath and I looked up from my pasta to see her desperately trying to wind her spaghetti around a silver fork.

It had been five minutes and neither of us had said one word to each other. I couldn't understand why she looked as if she wanted to murder me but I decided to play it safe and not say anything.

I liked my head attached to my body.

But she looked so lost among all of these advanced spaghetti eating strangers that I had to give her a hand. By this point she was attempting to transfer the spaghetti into her mouth, but the pasta simply slid down her utensils and landed back on her plate with a gentle plop.

I decided to take action. 'You know, if you cut the pasta up with your knife, you fit it in your spoon a whole lot easier.' I murmured to her, extremely aware that the whole table was in complete silence.

'I know that,' she snapped back at me. 'If I needed your help, I would have said something.'

I rolled my eyes and put my own knife and fork down. 'I wasn't doing it for you. I just don't want to be the person sitting next to the girl with cheese and chive sauce all down her dress all evening.' I was an excellent liar when I wanted to be.

She looked mildly surprised and then frowned at me. 'Well I wouldn't want to inconvenience you,' Her voice picked up volume as it became layered with sarcasm.

'Well that's very kind of you Miss.' I relaxed my face into an easy grin at her angry expression.

'I should have known you'd be here.'

'Don't beat yourself up. You don't even know me, so there's no way you could have known where I'd be.' I replied.

'Actually there is. It's not my fault, it's just a quality I seem to have gained,' her blue eyes bore straight into my dusty ones. 'I seem to attract dicks.'

That was harsh.

This was unusual. Girls normally trip over their own feet to impress me, but the only one who I was interested in clearly hated me with a passion for no clear reason. Go figure.

Poppy

His mouth popped open into a cute O, before he snapped it shut clearly out of attempts to talk to me. Good, he was better off without me, whoever he was.

He was not done.

'I'm sorry.' He turned to face me and stopped eating once more.

I sighed, frustrated at his annoying persistence and place my spoon back in my bowl. 'Don't be.'

'Fine.' He ruffled a hand through his hair and creased his forehead in thought. 'I get it. You hate me. That's fine. I'm not too keen on you either.'

Lies. I could see his like for me in his eyes.

Two minutes passed, and I attempted to swallow some more of the disgusting pasta.

'Why are you sorry anyway?' I asked him.

He laughed at that. I loved the way he laughed. His head relaxed backwards and his eyes creased closed in happiness. His deep voice reverberated around the stone walls and his face seemed more natural with a grin plastered all over it.

I should have said no when he asked if I wanted to get out of here. I should have shot him down before he had even got out of the trenches. I should have ran away and never looked into those chocolate puppy dog eyes again.

So why didn't I?


	5. Chapter 5

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Poppy

It was easy, being with him. I felt like I could act myself and for the first moment in a long time, I didn't feel uncomfortable.

_**stop this.**_

It was more difficult than simply saying the words in my head though.

Tristan

She walked a few paces ahead of me, her long wavy hair swaying to and fro as she balanced on stiletto heels. She was clearly deep in thought, and not wanting to distract her, I stayed silent, contemplating how she managed to make such a simple dress seem so stunning.

She turned her head and looked right at me. 'So.'

'what?' I questioned, as she drew to a halt beside me.

'Where are we actually going?'

I chuckled and starting to walk a little bit faster. 'If you stay with me, you'll see.'

By this point we had wandered for around 10 minutes through dimly lit London shopping avenues, and I could tell her attention was wavering by the time we reached our fifteenth set of traffic lights.

'So you live in London then?' She asked me, as we ran to get across on the green man. A rusty jeep, vibrating with the bass of club music hooted us and screeched off into the distance as soon as we had reached the other side of the street.

'No. Just visiting with my family.'

She frowned, her delicate eyebrows creasing together in thought. 'This your first time visiting England?'

I nodded and smiled as I saw concern dawning upon her.

She held a hand in front of my chest to block my movement, and then moved to stand directly in front of me.

'So how the hell do you know where you're going?'

I struggled to contain my laughter, it was amazing how she failed again and again to understand the workings of a Benedict.

I winked at her and strolled around her attempt to block my path, dragging her with me. 'I'm sure I'll work it out.'

Poppy

So there I was, walking through random streets of London with a stranger in the middle of the night. So why did I trust him? I was trying with all my might to just turn on my heel and storm away, but I couldn't drag my eyes off him.

About three minutes later, I found myself face planted on the floor, as my favourite shoes gave way and I crumpled in a heap. I was just about to start walking again with bare feet, when I found myself gathered in the strangers arms. Warmth encircled me, and I melted into the bonfire smell emanating from his t-shirt.

_**NO.**_

I attempted to pull away from the overwhelming sensation of need for this unknown boy but his strong arms held me to him, and he laughed at my feeble attempts to free myself. He started walking again, turning a corner and I struggled one final time before relaxing into his iron grip.

'I know how to walk, I'm not incapable.' I snapped at him, attempting to break the chemistry developing between us.

He ignored me, and picked up the pace, looking down at my upturned face resting on his chest with mocking in his eyes. 'I'm pretty sure that you need feet for dancing,' He drawled. 'and I'm pretty sure that with all this glass around, if I let you walk barefoot, you would never be able to dance again.'

Well that had to be a overexageration, I thought to myself, but peeking down at the floor I realised the truth in what he was protecting me from. Large Shards of green and brown bottle glass lay littered over the street he was carrying me along, and tiny pieces of clear crystals of the stuff coated every surface.

He strolled into a circular courtyard, pacing towards a small wooden door surrounded by wall flowers, and pushed with his back to creak it open. He set me down on a plush white carpet, and I dashed through the set of clear doors in front of me to inspect where he had taken me. Lights blinked on through the area, and I was able to see ... nothing. The hallway in front of me narrowed off to the right and I followed the curve eagerly.

I had never been good with surprises.

Just before I was about to pass through a small square doorway, I stopped and made myself think. What was I forgetting ...

The stranger.

Just as I thought that, he dashed into view, grinning from ear to ear. 'Just in case you were wondering, you're going completely the wrong way.' he told me.

I rolled my eyes and let him lead me back into the entrance hall and through to the left this time, entering a large square hall, brightly lit and around the size of a small football pitch. The floor was sprung, like those in the gymnastics centres I had visited as a child, and the walls rose high, to around 10 feet. The room was huge, but there was not a square metre left clear of a purpose and looking around the strange place, it dawned on me what this was.

It was a gym.

He had taken me all this way. To a gym.

I readied myself to slap him in his handsome face, when I took a good look around at the room, searching for a reason as to why he had carried me here, of all places.

There it was. Right on the far side of the room was a square oak finished section of floor, with mirrors surrounding the space and two parallel bars running along the wall. It by far outdid my converted garage dance studio, and I gasped in wonder as I noticed a fully installed surround sound system, throughout the whole gym.

'Why did you bring me here?' I asked foolishly, I knew the answer really.

'Unless I'm mistaken, I met you in a shabby converted warehouse, where you were practising dance on splintered floors with damp walls and a partly burnt ceiling. I wanted to show you the dance section in the gym belonging to the complex my family and I are staying in, and I knew you would never have come if I had just asked you.' He wandered over to a different section of the hall, a fighting ring.

Red ropes encircled a risen square sponge platform, and a billboard hung overhead indicating points belonging to different corners.

'Do you box?' I asked him.

He turned towards me, smirking. 'Yes, actually I do. This is a wrestling ring though.'

'Well if you think you know so much about it, how about a challenge.' I walked over to the ring and ducked under the ropes, into the square. 'Me.'

He clambered over the twine, and stood chest to chest with me in the centre of the space. 'You're on.'

**Okay so I'm sorry if It's kinda random and confusing:L most of my writing is but I hope you liked it:) xox**


	6. Chapter 6

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Poppy

Okay so clearly I was at a major disadvantage in this situation. Not only was he taller, stronger and probably slightly fitter than me, I was wearing a backless dress and did not want to ruin my makeup. Not in front of him. But he was being cocky, and I could never resist a challenge. The only difference was that even when fighting with boys at school, I'd always had a slight advantage being a savant. There was none of that here. Any slight lift I would have had in the fight was dispelled by the fact that the opposition had twice as many gifts, with twice as much power in them.

Or that was just my presumption anyway.

'Okay lets set up some ground rules.' He turned away from me, slipping off his trainers and chucking them out of the ring. He seemed to have taken no notice of the formal dress requirement on the ball invite, and was wearing skinny jeans and a tight-fitting top with some kind of symbol printed on the front of it instead. 'No savant gifts allowed.'

Now that was a surprise.

I hesitated, considering whether or not I should disagree, but realising I had no idea what his gift was I nodded slowly. There was no point risking this stranger having the ability to throw fireballs and me ending up with half of my hair burnt off.

'And no punching, biting or eye gauging. I'd like to keep both eyeballs in their sockets and I can see how you might be forced to resort to some unconventional methods to win.' He turned back to me, his eyes showing amusement at my fierce expression.

He took a step towards the middle of the ring and stopped to look me up and down. His face softening and his mouth easing into a grin.

'Of course, if you're too scared you could always' He took another step towards me, so that we were almost face to face. 'back down.'

That was too much.

I slipped my bangles off my wrist and put them with his shoes before stalking back to the middle of the ring and looking him square in his beautiful eyes.

'You're gonna wish you never even got out of your rich boy bed this morning.'

Tristan

I bet she had never even seen a wrestling match.

'So we start on three.' I hear myself saying, lost in the delicate way she was plaiting her hair to the side.

Once finished, she flicked the long blonde braid over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at me.

'3' She said and ran to the opposite side of the ring from me.

'Stalling' I muttered under my breath, knowing that in a real wrestling match she would have already been given an official warning, and braced myself for the attempt of an attack I knew was about to come.

Five seconds later, I had a beautiful girl with both arms pinned above her head lying on the ground underneath me. Her breath was coming in short shallow gasps, and the small of her back was just risen from the ground as I used one hand to keep her there and the other to stop her using her hands to get up. I rolled to the side, releasing her, and lay staring at the vast ceiling waiting for her to admit defeat.

Poppy

I had a plan. Take a running start and leap onto his back. I was hoping that the shock of this would have made him crumble to the ground under my weight, and then naturally I would have exhibited some superhuman strength abilities and kept him pinned there. It seemed so easy.

Once I had run round to the back of him however, he seemed to anticipate my next move and spun round, catching me in his arms just as I jumped. He then blocked my several attempts to kick him, flipping me onto the ground and pinning my arms above my head so that I couldn't get up. All in about the space of five seconds.

And then he just let me go. As if I was going to give up that easily, he really didnt know me at all.

'Cheat.' I propped myself up on my elbows and poked him in the ribs.

He chuckled and sprang to his feet. 'Fine, if you're going to be a sore loser, we can have a rematch.'

I managed to dodge his first attempt by the skin of my teeth that time, by rolling underneath his legs as he tried to pick me up again. I didn't realise that I had backed myself into a corner however, and as he stood a few centimeters from me smirking I swore to myself. I could feel the body heat radiating from him as he grabbed my wrist with his hand. Suddenly I was frozen in place, only able to keep myself standing propped against the pillar joining the ropes together in the ring, confused as to why I couldn't move my feet to kick him.

Of course that was when I realised he had found a pressure point on my wrist, and I swore out loud, still in control of my mouth clearly.

He smiled slyly at me and pressed me against the pillar. His mouth was so close to my ear that I could hear him whisper, 'ready to give up yet?'.

The world was muffled and I felt a wave of dizziness pass over me as I breathed in the sweet scent of his breath, and I was so close to giving in to him and kissing his perfect lips when I remembered why I was pushing him away.

The feeling in my legs was coming back to me and so I twisted away from his grip and ducked around his body. 'Never.'

'Fine then,' He laughed, spinning around towards me.

I should have known I would just end up pinned on the floor again, this time with him not releasing me as soon as he had the advantage.

Tristan

'Ugh' her chest was heaving and golden curls were coming unraveled from her braid, but I was not releasing her arms yet. 'fine you win. I should never have challenged you in the first place.'

'Oh I dunno,' I helped her up from the floor as she straightened out her dress. 'It was pretty amusing for me.'

She punched me lightly on the arm, grinning for a few seconds before realising that she'd revealed a chink in her stone solid armour, and she went back to her poker face once more.


	7. Chapter 7

**omg wow I can't believe I wrote two in one day:) I hope you like it sorry if its a bit ... yeah :L I'm normally the kind of person who cringes even when people kiss at the cinema so I don't think this story will get too steamy don't worry :) **

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**xox**

Poppy

_'Don't give your heart to no one Pops, your heart is your tool to break them, not to give yourself to them.' _

_'But Papa I wanna be friends with him. I wanna have normal friends and play outside like the other kids. I wanna be friends with Jonny. Why can't I be friends with him?'_

_'You can't be friends with him. You can't be friends with no one. How many times do I have to tell you this. All of my other children are being good. Why do you always have to be so naughty.'_

_'Honey don't be cruel to her, she just doesn't understand. Wha ... stop it that hurts, please stop I'm sorry ... just please stop ... please.'_

_'Don't go on her side. She's being a bad girl and she doesn't need encouraging.'_

_'Papa, I'm sorry I won't be friends with no one, I promise just don't hurt mama no more please. Papa please don't hurt her no more.'_

_'WHY DOES EVERYONE IN THIS FAMILY HAVE TO MAKE ME ANGRY.'_

_'Paa ... Paapa you're hurting me ... PAPA PLEASE DON'T HIT ME.'_

_'I don't want to hurt you Poppy, or your mum. But you just keep being naughty you see.'_

__I woke up in pitch dark, my head resting on an object that was too warm and solid to be my pillow. My pillow doesn't move up and down. Or talk.

'You talk in your sleep.'

How was it possible that I recognised that voice even though I had only heard it a couple of times?

My voice slurred with sleep, my inhibitions lowered as my brain was still foggy with dreams, I curled closer to the source of heat, mumbling questions about where I was and how I got there.

He laughed and wrapped strong arms around my waist. 'I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that.' He rested his head against mine and whispered in my ear. '_soulfinder'_.

Well that woke me up.

I tried to push away from his chest but he anticipated my movement and pulled me closer to him, turning onto his side as he did, so that I couldn't wriggle free. He sighed after a second and pushed me slightly away from him. I immediately hugged my arms to my chest, missing the warmth of his chest.

'Poppy,'

So he knows my name now too.

'You have lots of questions. I do too, but you can go first.'

I stayed silent, debating whether I should make a break for it. I decided there was probably no point, he'd just catch me, like he did when we were wrestling.

I settled on a question. 'What's your name?'

In the darkness I couldn't see the amusement in his eyes at my choice.

'Tristan.'

It suited him perfectly, and before I knew it, the word had slipped out of my mouth. 'Tristan,' I muttered to myself.

Even through the darkness I could imagine the smirk that would be spread across his face and I silently cursed myself.

I cleared my throat in embarrassment. 'And you're a Benedict?'

'Yes.' He sounded surprised at that discovery on my part.

It happened again. 'Tristan Benedict ... oh shit.' I cursed aloud this time.

There was laughter in his voice and I cringed at how my emotions kept betraying me.

'Where am I?'

A light flicked on and I saw the layout of my blue themed bedroom, and cringed again as I saw how closely we were lying together on my double bed. He seemed to see me flinch and released me from his grip completely, allowing me to pull the duvet spread over us.

Tristan reached up and hit the light switch, plunging us into darkness again.

'How did I get here?'

Any humour in his voice was gone completely when he explained what happened to me. 'You passed out after our wrestling match, and so I carried you back here.' I could feel how much he wanted to hug me to him again, and I was surpised to find that I wanted him to.

**STOP.**

One thing was bugging me. 'How did you know where I lived?'

'I found your address on the back of your phone.'

I was becoming extremely cold, and so I attempted to edge my way closer to Tristan. He seemed to observe my intention and so pulled me onto his chest once more. I was becoming to comfortable with this kind of intimacy.

I braced myself for the gut wrenching feeling pain I knew I would feel when I asked him my next question. 'Why do you think I'm your soulfinder?'

He prised my fingers apart from each other and rested them a little distance away from each other, probably trying to protect me from breaking my hands by accident. His arms went straight around my waist again however afterwards.

'I don't think Poppy,' The way he said my name sent shivers up and down my spine, with a gentle lilt to it, and a lift with the y. 'I know.'

That burned my insides like hydrochloric acid. I clenched the material on the front of his tshirt and gasped in despair.

'Why would you say that? Why would you say you know that? Why would you want to say that to me? Why ...' My voice trailed into sobs and clung to Tristan as if he was my rock in the middle of the ocean, as he stroked my hair and whipered its ok in my ear.

When my sobs had reduced to just the occasional sniff, Tristan bent his head close to mine, whispering in my ear. '_I just want to try something.'_

__Being so close to him was making me forget why I was working so hard to push him away, and him whispering in my ear was not helping me try to remember. I attempted to clear my head, but I picked the wrong time, as he pulled me closer to him and then turned so that he was lying over the top of me, his strength preventing me from feeling any of his weight. I had no idea why I would ever have tried to push this boy away as he leaned his head closer to mine and brushed his lips against mine, waiting for me to pull away, and I could feel his surprise at my willingness turn into need as he deepened the kiss and forgot slightly to keep his weight off me, so that I could just feel the toned wall of muscle pressed against my stomach, and feel his body heat seeping through to me, raising a blush to my cheeks.

I threaded my hands into his hair, pulling his head closer towards me, a groan escaping from his lips as I did so, and he released more pressure of his weight onto me, before turning so that I was lying on top of him. He place a cool hand under my tshirt against the small of my back and as he pulled me even closer to him a gasp caught in my throat.

Keys jangled in a lock downstairs, but we were both so caught up in each other that we didnt notice.

He bit my lip gently and I began to -

**_BANG_**

We pulled apart, and I felt my cheeks redden in the dark, thankful that he couldn't see my blush. I was having difficulty remembering where I was, and Tristan was not helping as he pressed me closer to him again and began to lean in to kiss me again, not giving a shit about whether there was a possible murderer in my house.

Crap. That's where I was. And the bang downstairs was the front door opening as my mum and family came home from the ball. I didn't think that my Mum and Dad would take it too well if they discovered that I ditched the ball for a boy, let alone a Benedict boy.

But Tristan was lulling me into another kiss, with his sweet breath tickling my forehead as he tilted my chin up and melted my worries with his incredible eyes. I was beginning to forget about the possible threat again until I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and pushed him away from me with all of my strength. That was not very much but he seemed to realise that something was wrong so he propped himself up on one elbow.

'Tristan you have to leave, my mum and dad are coming up the stairs right now and if they find out I have a boy in the room, I will never be allowed out of the house again.' I whispered desperately to him.

I could hear amusement in his voice as he murmered to me, 'Relax Poppy, I can just hide behind your bed.'

'No you have to leave, my Dad can sense where people are and who they are, and he would kill you. I think he probably actually would.'

_See you soon._

His telepathic voice filled my head and I suddenly remembered why I had to push him away.

_'Don't give your heart to no one Pops, your heart is your tool to break them, not to give yourself to them.'_

**Oh by the way the bit at the start was a conversation she was dreaming about that had happened when she was younger between her and her Dad and her Mum sorry if that was a bit confusing :D **

'


	8. Chapter 8

Poppy

I turned away from my squabbling sisters in the car, crossing my arms and resting my head against the cool window. Drops of condensation were beginning to form on the windows and I checked my phone for the time.

**06:13 am**

Dad had taken the whole family on a surprise savant training trip to a mud ridden field in the middle of the outskirts of London. My night had consisted of rolling around in the grass attempting to block my sisters kicks and punches. I would've taken my chances sleeping in the same bed as Tristan if it meant that I could've got out of that terrifying situation.

I had never been the athletic one.

A text alert buzzed my phone and the tired grumpy family all turned around to stare at me.

'sorry, jeez' I croaked out.

**Tristan Benedict: So last night was fun;) x**

****I sighed, remembering the quickest way to get an unwanted boy to stop texting you, not even bothering to question how he had my number.

**Poppy Wood: Orange mobile are sorry but the numbre you have contacted is unreachable. If you have any further questions please contact us via email. **

That should do it.

**Tristan Benedict: Nice try, you misspelt number ... and I'm not with Orange**

That was when things got awkward in the car.

'So who are you texting Poppy?' My dad questioned me from the front.

I groaned internally, never being the best liar.

'um, I'm not actually texting, just playing a game.'

He hmmd to himself before saying 'good game?'

'Not really. Kind of shit actually.'

My mother chimed in, 'language Poppy. God why do you have to be so fucking difficult to keep under control.'

And she wonders where I get my filthy mouth from.

Silence filled the car once more and I flicked my phone onto silent to prevent my Father realising I was still texting.

**Poppy Wood: smarter guys have fallen for it ...**

**Tristan Benedict: I guess you must have underestimated my supreme intelligence then;)**

****Making a noise of disbelief, I quickly pretended to have a coughing fit as my Father began to look interested again.

**Poppy Wood: You're wasting my credit. Fuck off.**

**Tristan Benedict: You kiss your mother with that mouth? **

****A strange feeling was settling in the pit of my stomach so I decided to end the conversation.

**Poppy Wood: No seriously I don't wanna talk to you. Take a hint and delete this number.**

****The cruel text didn't seem to help, now I just felt bad for being so harsh.

**Tristan Benedict: See you soon beautiful 3**

not that that seemed to dishearten him ...

I grabbed my dance bag and ran out of the door to the house, eager to reach my abandoned warehouse as I had already missed two hours practice. Because of my poor performance in training I had been forced to clean up the entire house for guests who were coming over that night. It was growing dark so I decided to risk the chance of being caught and flew ten blocks. My gift can be handy sometimes. Landing on the pavement clumsily I stumbled into the road by accident and just avoided being run-over by a drunkard singing the national anthem.

God bless Great Britain.

I prepared myself to use all my energy in the opening of the door, placing my hands gingerly on the handle and leaning my body weight against the wooden panes when a voice spoke out from behind me.

'You know, for a dancer you're not very strong.' His lilting accent made me sigh in annoyance and I spun around on my heels to glare at him.

Daddy was right when he told me three years ago that lust is for a moment but blood is for life. I had to remember that. I couldn't lose my family and be left with a person I could never trust. He was a stranger who Biology had chosen for me. My mother and Father and my sisters were my own flesh and blood.

I readied myself for flight.

'Goodbye Tristan.'

Tristan

Just as she was about to take off I grabbed onto her delicate wrist and pulled with all of my might. She had some serious mind strength but it was no match for my physical power and she ended up grounded once more.

She stared me straight in the eyes and growled in a low voice, 'Let. Me. Go.'

She was beginning to make me angry by that point.

I smirked down at her, using my height to my advantage.

'No.'

That was when she passed out again.

Just reaching her in time to catch her head before it collided with the ground I struggled to remember the recovery position from my first aid training sessions. Luckily her eyes fluttered open almost as quickly as they had closed and as her face gradually returned to its delicate ivory colouring I pulled her up into my arms and placed her on a nearby bench.

Clearly able to read the concern etched on my face she sighed, closing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

I shuffled my feet around on the floor and her eyes snapped open.

'Fine.' She huffed, her pouted mouth highlighted by the dim street lights. 'Ask me.'

'Do you want me to take you to a hospital?' She looked surprised, her vans scuffing the floor as she swung her legs onto the bench and crossed them.

'To do what?'

I lifted my eyes to hers and crinkled my eyebrows together, worried she might have received concussion even though her head had not hit the ground.

'To see what's wrong with you.'

She cast her eyes down to the ground and spoke quietly. 'I already know what's wrong with me.'

I was about to tell her she didn't have to say when her voice became stronger. 'Can we talk about this over a coffee?'

Poppy

So there I was, sitting in costa with the very person who I was supposed to be avoiding, sipping a piping hot late to give me some energy to explain why kept fainting every time he saw me. Lifting my eye level to his, I found that Tristan was already gazing at me and felt my cheeks flush red, always having disliked attention.

I coughed awkwardly and glanced back down at my coffee cup.

'Insomnia.'

His eyebrows raised questioningly and I pushed my empty mug away from me. 'I can't sleep.'

He smirked at me, 'I know what insomnia is. Why do you have it?'

I faltered 'Becau ... I don't know.'

'You're a terrible liar, Poppy.' His smirk grew wider as he saw me glance away from him.

I had nightmares. They varied from time to time, between my Dad abusing myself and my Mother and the terrifying visits from savants I had received when he had discovered my gift last year. But there was no way I was sharing this with Tristan. There was no way he was discovering the chink in my steel coat.

'It doesn't matter. Look you've been really kind, but I have to go. My Dad expects me home around 11 every night and it takes half an hour to walk from here.' His expression darkened as I said this but he slid off his seat just the same.

'Let me walk you.' I scoffed at his presumptuousness and slipped my coat on.

'Poppy you passed out on the sidewalk less than fifteen minutes ago. I'm not letting you walk for half an hour through a bad neighbourhood. I'm not leaving you.'

I sighed and rolled my eyes, stalking out of the door knowing he would be right behind me. I walked ahead of him for five minutes, trusting that they were the sound of his footsteps following me and not a stalker. As we reached a darkened street corner I fell behind in pace, spooked unnaturally by the absence of light. The street lamp must've popped recently but I was unwilling to show Tristan how afraid of the dark i really was.

Unfortunately I was not anticipating an unlit street ahead of us and as a i rounded the corner I ground to a stop glancing around for a source of light when there was none. I heard a chuckle just behind me and covered my mouth with my hand to stop from screaming as Tristan's voice whispered in my ear.

'_Not afraid of the dark are you?' _

A shiver fell down my spine as my eyes adjusted slightly to the change in lighting and I realised I had taken a wrong turn and we were lost.

'Dammit Tristan.' I cursed and turned to kick the wall just behind me. That was not my cleverest idea, and as I yelped in pain I could just see a smirk forming on his face.

**AN: Heyyyyyy :)))) so I hope you liked it:DD sorry I haven't updated in ages, but remember to Follow me and Favourite me also hit me with a review pleeease ... not literally though ... don't actually hit me ... yeah. xox**


	9. Chapter 9

**HEy so its a new chapter ... WAHEY :)))) **

**xox**

Tristan

She slid down the red brick wall she had been leaning against and sat with her head on her knees in despair. I could just make out an endless street to my left and right, with apartments running all the way behind us. Opposite was a green area, separated from the abandoned road by just a rusty fence, bent to the floor where people had scrambled over it. The streetlights hung overhead menacingly, taunting us with non existent light and somewhere in the distance I could hear a dog yapping away.

Just an average night really.

Poppy stood up suddenly and stumbled over to where I was standing, losing awareness of her feet in the darkness. She sighed ( a noise I was becoming used to by now) and grabbed my hand, pulling me over the destroyed fence and into the overgrown park. She dropped my hand once we had fumbled into the middle of the area, her hair falling in front of her eyes as glanced to the ground.

I realised she was waiting for me to speak and I rolled my eyes in the darkness at her consistent change in personality. One moment she was boisterous and mouthy, the next she was gentle and timid. I felt for her hand in the darkness and dragged her gently to the ground with me, until we were sitting cross legged facing each other with our fingers entwined, her free hand constantly running through her hair. This distance apart I could just make out her scared facial expression and my eyebrows knit together with worry.

'Hey, Poppy.' She glanced up at me, a smiling pulling at her frightened expression. 'If I show you something do you promise not to freak out on me?'

She nodded, plucking at the grass.

I was not willing to reveal my secret but I was afraid for this new Poppy. This vulnerable, innocent girl who I felt was as delicate as paper in my hands. It made me wonder what could've happened in her life to force her to build such a solid armour for herself.

Gathering dry leaves and twigs with my telekinesis powers, I bundled them together in-between us, laying the arrangement for the start to a fire. Summoning my remaining energy I closed my eyes and could only tell that it had worked when I heard a soft 'oh' sound from just in front of me. Opening my eyes, I found Poppy staring, bewildered at a floating fire above our heads. I paused. My fires had never flown before.

'Sorry,' She muttered. 'I didn't mean to, I was just worried that you would set yourself on fire.'

I smirked and dragged her hand up to a flaming twig. Her fingers passed straight through the flame without burning herself.

'Not a real fire, Poppy, just a projection.' She looked confused and I ran a hand through my hair. 'Thats my gift. I can project an image and it appears to come to life. Not actually to life though, it's still a projection but it can emit light or something ...' I trailed off, confusing myself. 'I'm sorry, that didn't really make much sense, did it?'

She grinned at me, recovering from her personality change as she ran a hand right through the 'fire'. 'Not one bit. But I understand, don't worry.'

A few moments passed in silence as we both bit down on questions on our tongues, out of politeness or respect.

With the fire illuminating the surrounding park I could see her mouth gently open as she began to speak. 'You think I'm an idiot, for getting us lost in my home town.' I shook my head but she ignored me, continuing. 'I've never been this way before, I always fly or take the car. So I'm sorry, but I don't have a clue where we are or how we got here. If my phone had power I could -'

I interrupted her, 'I have a phone.'

'No shit, Einstein.' She stared at me, confused as to why I was suddenly bragging about having a phone.

I laughed, 'No, I meant you can use my phone. I have battery and balance. What do you need to call your dad to say you'll be back late? I don't wanna get you in trouble.'

She stared at the ground, picking at the grass mumbling something incoherent.

She looked up to see if I was replying and so I raised an eyebrow at her, showing my misunderstanding.

'My dad doesn't give a toss whether I come home late or not,' She sighed. 'He probably wouldn't even care if I didn't come home for a week. He wouldn't want me dead though. No, that would mess up all his plans for me.' Biting down on her bottom lip she turned her face up to the sky, consulting the stars.

Poppy

Okay, so I'm afraid of the dark.

So what.

It doesn't matter that I just gave away a weakness.

Dad is going to rip out my vocal chords if he ever finds out I've been swapping weaknesses with a Benedict boy.

'Okay, I have an idea.' I looked up to see Tristan smiling at me. 'I met an English girl a few years ago who taught me to play a game -'

I snapped my eyes up to his and smirked, 'Woah. No way. Ugh I'm not playing some kind of 'game' with you Tristan. You're sick.'

He burst out laughing and as I realised my mistake at his sincerity, I joined in.

'Okay I'll play' I grinned at him, still recovering. People always said I was the easiest to make laugh, and the most difficult to stop.

'So you start. All you have to do is ask me a question, any question, and if I don't answer truthfully then ...' his eyes searched around the park looking for ideas. 'You can slap me as hard as you like.'

How did he hit on the one thing I'd been wanting to do since I had met him.

'But if you don't answer truthfully,' He continued. 'Then I get to kiss you again.' He grinned at my shocked expression. He was like a mind reader, guessing exactly what would force me to answer his questions and try to catch him out.

I thought of a loophole. 'But how do I know if you're lying? And how do you know if I'm not telling the truth?'

He smiled at my confused face.

'That's the beauty of the game.'

'Wait, so I could just lie to you and say that I was telling the truth. No offense, but whoever thought up this game is dumb.'

Half of his mouth turned up in a smile as he said, 'There's no way you can lie.'

'I can lie.'

'You just lied. Look, I won't lie to you, I promise.'

I stared him straight in the eye, waiting for him to avoid contact or glance away but he didn't back down.

Maybe this game was going to be fun after all ...


	10. Chapter 10

1 year earlier:

I creased my eyebrows together and winced, staring out of the train window at the passing scenery, sheep sailing before my eyes and rain splattering at my reflection. I seemed like the clouds were crying with me. Wiping my watering eyes with a scratched hand a sob escaped from my throat as I thought once again back to what had just happened. The empty seats surrounding me on the carriage did nothing to improve my mood, my only option for distraction was to once again turn my attention back to the night scenery whizzing past my puffy red eyes.

I had packed up my stuff that morning. I was sick of the abuse from Dad. I wanted to escape my sisters. I was tired of Mum being forced to ignore me. If she didn't Dad just hit her more. It had been the last day of school for the Summer and I had decided it would be the last day of my miserable life. Dad didn't know I had friends, if he did he would have uprooted us right there and then and we would have moved to another continent. Craig and I had planned to catch the first train out of London that morning and travel to Leeds. Craig was my best friend. I knew I could trust him, whether he thought he was in love with me or not.

Dad was right.

I was only ever going to get a friend hurt.

We had run into the very people Dad had moved us to London to avoid once we had arrived at our hotel. No matter how unforgivable he was, at least he kept us safe from the real bad guys. The savant net thought that my family were criminals, because of my Fathers history, and because they were unmerciful savants. My father was Relavigane Wood, the notorious drug dealer of the Wood company, the notorious bad guy. He had changed when he met his soulfinder, but not for long. People say that your soulfinder can only ever be good for you. My family called bullshit on the whole thing.

Craig paid the price for my Fathers past life, when it should have been me. He jumped in front of the bullet to save me, after we had been chased through the city of London for two hours straight. There was no way I could ever have repaid him. He was dead within half a minute.

In that deserted train carriage I realised that the people who killed Craig would not stop until they had reached my Father. That was when I realised that the only way to protect myself and those who I cared about was to stay with my family, fighting with them. Because no matter what happened I could not let anybody else die in my place.

My savant gift is useless in a fight. I guess I was given the opposite. The flight. I can run away from any situation before the enemy have even seen me, but I cannot fight them to save the people who I love.

I knew that my only option was to drop out of school and let my friends forget about me.

I should have known that would never be enough.

Tears dropped soundlessly down my bruised cheeks, my thoughts and heart still with Craig.

Tristan:

The train clunked into the station, and I contemplated my inevitable fate.

Colorado.

I had been moved around constantly up until that point, passed from foster family to foster family, messing up my chance of a stable life again and again. I seemed to attract trouble, and not being able to tell the people who were supposed to be caring for me the very reason why I was in danger was not helping very much. After my fifteenth placement, the savant net had caught on to my position. Changing my placement, I had been forced into the care of a savant family who had apparently volunteered to look after me, teaching me how to be a good savant.

I had already decided it wasn't worth their time.

So there I was, staring out of a glass window pane, as i left the city behind, and the countryside grew more green and less grey, waiting to be transferred into a life where I would be useful to the savant net, instead of being my usual pain in the backside.

What I hadn't known at that point was just how little time it would take me to adjust to the Benedict lifestyle. They were infectious, and unsurprisingly I became a part of their crazy life.

**HEYA :))) So now you know a bit about their lives YAY :D I'm sorry I kinda left them in the middle of a field though :L but I might have time to update again today anyway so YAY. **

**Wow. I'm gonna fail my exams. **

**OMG IM GONNA FAIL MY EXAMS I HAVE TO REVISE.**

**I CANT BE BOTHERED.**

**... I think I'm gonna go to sleep ... **


	11. Chapter 11

**HEY:) **

**That was just a bit of random background back there:)**

**because YOLO;)**

**So yeah:D **

Poppy

I breathed out slowly, killing time whilst I thought of a question. Tristan's beautiful orbs held my eye contact, freezing me in place as he saw right through all the walls I had built around myself. My heart was thumping in my chest and I felt almost sorry for him for a moment. This probably wasn't how he wanted his soulfinder to turn out to be.

'Where do you come from?'

I cursed myself silently as I realised what a crap question that was.

Tristan smirked, 'Colorado, America. That's where I lived for the past year.'

My eyes filled with confusion and I was about to start on my next question when Tristan piped up again.

'So why can't you sleep?' He questioned me.

I considered lying, but remembering how he had only known me for a couple of days and had already realised I couldn't lie I didn't want to risk it. I glanced down at the ground, deliberating. I decided to just come out with it.

'I have bad dreams.'

I looked up to see him staring at me, with concern etched all over his face. 'I know. You were asleep for about half an hour the night of the ball. You didn't spend one second still in the bed and you were talking the whole time.'

'So why did you ask me then?' I frowned at him.

He began to grin at me again, making me feel considerably more irritated. 'Is that your question?'

I sighed, swallowing my anger, knowing if I did anything rash it would just rebound against me. 'No. Where did you live before last year?'

'Before I moved in with the Benedicts I moved from foster family to foster family. I have lived in San Francisco, Phoenix, Austin, Washington, Nashville, Chicago, Kansas City, Richmond ...' He grinned at me as he trailed off, 'Do I need to continue?'

I smirked at him, realising his mistake. 'Nope. Okay, my turn again.'

He slapped a hand to his forehead and grinned at me.

'So what happened to your family?' I swallowed my smile, realising this would be a painful subject, but to my surprise he just shrugged his shoulders.

'Never knew them, my Mum died in childbirth and my Dad was killed in a car accident just after I was born, in a car accident. I never had any brothers or sisters.' He thought for a moment. 'What are your dreams about?'

I was regretting agreeing to this game.

Tristan was being painfully honest however, so I decided to tell him the truth.

'They vary. Some are about my Dad, some about my friend.'

I didn't want to tell him the whole truth though, and he decided not to push it any further.

'So why have you lived in so many places?' I asked him.

'I was never allowed to tell my families that I was a savant, never allowed to use it to explain fights I had been in and other dangerous situations. I was forbidden by The savant net, to protect us. They believed that if I ever managed to stay with a family for 5 years or more then I could reveal my secret. That never happened of course.' raising his eye level to mine, he looked pleased at my state of engrossment in his story and continued, 'I never dreamed in a million years that I would end up living in a houseful of the savant net. I hated them so much.'

I realised that I was letting too much of myself go in this conversation and immediately crossed my arms over my chest, frowning in his direction.

He only grinned at me, knowing how much of an affect he was taking on me. 'How long have you danced for?'

This was a topic I was well versed, on account of being asked by various people in my life. I had already come up with a suitable cover story.

'I've been dancing for about 9 years. My mum signed me up to ballet classes when I was 7, but I didn't like the strictness so I joined a contemporary dance group in Manchester, when we lived there, when I was 10.'

He looked amused, 'You know, I don't think I've ever heard you say that much in one before.'

I scoffed, 'Ugh, my turn. How long do I have to play this for?'

'Until someone lies,' He grinned at me. 'My turn again.'

I was suddenly aware of how close we were sitting, facing each other, and began to become worried as a wicked expression grew on his face.

I should definitely not have agreed to this game.

He lowered his voice and captured my eye contact once more as he leaned his head closer to mine. 'Do you want to kiss me again?'

I gulped. If I was being honest, I hadn't really thought about it, trying pretty hard to push the whole first experience from my mind. Unfortunately with his question came the memory and I felt a blush rise to my cheeks, wishing that he had never lit up the park.

I was stuck.

'No.' My voice came out raggedly as I breathed in his intoxicating scent and blinked, looking down at the ground in despair and twiddling my earring in my ear.

I felt Tristan move, but didn't dare look up as I heard his voice whisper in my ear.

'_Liar.'_

Nothing happened for a few seconds and so I snapped my eyes back up to his face, not surprised to find him looking right at me, his lips a couple of inches from mine. He tangled his hands in my hair and pulled my head gently towards his, his hot breath against my lips, my eyes closing instinctively, readying myself for the surge of feelings I knew I was about to experience.

The worst thing was that I couldn't even complain, or move away. He had caught me out.

I wanted to kiss him.


	12. Chapter 12

**HEY:D**

**So I finished my exams ... now I just have to wait for the results *le sigh* **

**And now here I am again:) so I'm sorry if its crap because I haven't ... well I haven't really moved in a little while:L IM LAZY OK. DON'T JUDGE ME. **

**I'm sad because one of my best friends is ditching me for Canada :'( **

**So now this has turned into a blog ... **

**Let's move on:D**

**FOLLOW ME AND FAVOURITE ME AND REVIEW ME **

**because ... well because CATS. **

Poppy

After insisting on walking me home, much to my chagrin because it would have been so much more simple just to fly, Tristan had left me on my doorstep, afraid of being seen by my Father.

I may or may not have told him that he has punched boys who came round before ...

I unlocked the mottled and rusty green front door of our house and slowly opened it, scared of creating too much noise and waking everybody up. Once having snuck upstairs and crept into my room, I decided that there was no way I was going to be able to sleep, and seeing as it had only just struck twelve, threw open my window and flew to the dance club in the centre of town, ready to drown my sorrows.

Enigma's blue shimmering doors pulsated with a heavy beat, and the long queue of tipsy men and women tutted and groaned loudly at me as I waved hello to Dave, the bouncer on the door. I was swallowed by the sound as soon as I entered, surrounded by hot sweaty bodies on either side of me I pushed myself through the mosh pit to the bar, enjoying the feel of oxygen once again flowing to my lungs.

'Alright there Poppy?' the handsome bartender flashed me a heart stopping grin and tousled his brown curly hair.

I gave him a weak smile. 'Three Crimson Tide shots please.'

'Wow that bad huh?' He questioned me as he began to fill three shot glasses.

I groaned and placed my head in my hands. 'Actually, make it five.'

The fiery liquid spread through my veins as I downed a shot in one, enjoying the numbing release from emotion. As I moved onto the third the bartender, who's name I swear I had known earlier, frowned at me, shaking his head as I caught the attention of a short, blonde curly haired girl in the corner of the room. Bounding over to me she threw her arms around my neck, enveloping me in a bear hug.

'OH MY GOD POPPY!' She screamed in my ear, clearly having stood too close to a speaker earlier on during the night. 'I HAVENT SEEN YOU IN YEARS, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? OH MY GOD YOU LOOK AMAZING, YOUR HAIR IS SO LONG, OH MY GOD!' She let out a huge squeak, wrapping me in another bone crushing hug, before glancing over to my shot glasses, two of which still had a fire coloured liquid in them.

The girl was Linday, an old friend of mine from Primary school, who I had attempted to keep in contact with when I moved to London, but had failed. Bright and bubbly, she was always the life of the party and we had never had a dull moment when we were younger.

The music died down a little as she tutted at me and said, 'Not drinking on your own are you?' She sighed as I shook my head, grinning at me as she grabbed one of my shot glasses and downed the liquid, grimacing as it hit her veins. 'Well, not any more!'

I giggled and grabbed my last shot before she could grab it off me as well, 'I've missed you Linday.'

Her face broke out into a huge grin as she pulled me into the crowd of people yelling, 'OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG!"

_I'm the cat with the bass and drum _

_Going around like Bom Bom Bom_

_What's grooving _

_I'm moving_

_I like your style of womping _

_How charming just a rapper_

_Load him up and eat that snapper_

_I want sixteen pints of rum and then I go BOM BOM_

We spent the next two hours dancing around like madmen on the floor, the alcohol setting in as I found myself a bit too close to strange men time and time again. Realising my mistakes before they had started however, I slid back towards Linday, my rock in the mess of my life.

I vaguely remember a drunken phone call to one of my friends, but for the life of me couldn't remember who until I heard a deep voice in my ear.

'Don't you think it's time to go home now?'

Out of all the people to drunk dial, why did it have to be Tristan? The only person who would come and find me and make sure I was ok. Why Tristan?

I guess I knew why. He was the reason I had been binge drinking after all.

I turned and pouted at him. 'Noooope.' I giggled, swaying on my heels. 'I'm having fun with Lindsay Lohan ... where is she? Oop there she is,' I grabbed Linday's arm and pulled her back towards me as she passed by, 'She's my best friend.'

He frowned at me. 'Ugh, you're so drunk. Right, that's it I'm dragging you home if that's what it takes.'

Linday poked a finger at his chest. 'You're American. And you're hot.' She stared at me before her eyes lit up in excitement. 'oh my god. You're banging him aren't you!'

I ignored Tristans smirk and stepped away from him, holding onto Linday's shoulder to keep balanced and crossed my arms over my chest. 'No way hose. And yooouuu.' I pointed my finger at Tristan, in the same way Linday had, 'can't tell me what to do. I don't belong to you. So you can go away now.' I thought for a second. 'Please.'

Tristan shook his head at me and pulled my arm, causing me to topple on my heels and fall into him, he grabbed my waist to support me and whispered, '_actually, you do belong with me. You told me so when you called me._'

I cringed, disturbed by how little I remembered off the phone call and pushed away from him, disappearing into the crowd as I yelled. 'GOODBYE TRISTAN.'

I made my way to the middle of the dance floor, slipping through cracks in dancing couples and quickly attracted the attention of a nearby man who was standing alone, swirling a glass of whiskey in his hand. He made his way over to me, standing so close that I could smell his body odour, and see food granules on his moustache. I gagged and attempted to step away from him but he grabbed my wrist tightly. 'Wanna dance sweet cheeks?'

I tried to pull away from him but his grip on me tightened. 'N .. No.' I found my voice. 'No I don't think I want to dance with you.'

'Aw c'mon,' He stroked my cheek and i cringed from his touch, disgusted. 'Just one dance didn't hurt nobody.'

Tristan pulled me away from the man easily and I gladly let his arms encircle me. 'It would hurt you. The lady said no, so if you have an ounce of dignity left in your bones then you will leave her alone.' His voice dropped menacingly at the end, and the man looked frightened, mumbling about stupid americans as he found his next victim.

He turned me round and I wrapped my arms around his warm body, as I felt the sobering effects of the previous event. I still couldn't remember what I had revealed in my phone call however, and I still felt too tipsy to probably hold a sensible conversation. I guess Tristan would probably test that theory later.

'Ok, I'm going to take you home now.' He rested his chin on my head and sighed as he felt me tense at the notion.

'No. No, I don't wanna go home. Home is scary. Take me somewhere else pleease.' I whimpered

Tristan looked at me worriedly and creased his forehead in thought. 'Okay, we can go back to my hotel room.' He smiled at me, 'but you can't tell my parents that you stayed over, ok?'

I nodded happily. 'Can't tell my parents that you stayed over, got it.'

He shook his head in amusement and took my hand, pulling me out of the door.


	13. Chapter 13

**BONJOUR:) **

**I'm sorry D: I had a french exchange over and I like haven't had a single second to myself in ages :'( But she's really nice though so it's ok:) **

**omg thankyou everyone for your comments:) They're all so nice and I love reading them xox**

Tristan

Curled into a ball in the middle of my bed, the sheets lay straggled across her, her hair falling carelessly over the mattress. I sighed and rolled over in my brothers bed, having managed to convince Uriel to stay in Wills room last night, I hadn't moved Poppy from the spot where she collapsed into. Exhausted and drunk, she had all but passed out on my bed, and I frowned in the dim light of dawn, remembering the events that had taken place.

The phone call.

She would no doubt have forgotten the most of our conversation, highly intoxicated and high on the moment, but I wasn't foolish enough to think that she would have forgotten making the phone call alltogether, and she would want answers from me.

The question was, how much information do I give her?

I was conflicted as to whether I should just reveal all that she had revealed, or cause her less pain, and lie about the extent to which she had revealed herself. I turned onto my back, gazing up at the ceiling, light begin to spill into the room from the window, the sound of Poppy's gentle breathing being the only seeming like the only sound in the world. A fly on the wall caught my attention, its miniature wings flapping to the beating of my heart, as a soft buzzing filled my ears. I couldn't be bothered to move however, so I waited until it had flown someplace else before turning my head to look at Poppy.

My soulfinder.

I had never known it would be so difficult.

That's not how the stories go is it. The soulfinders love each other, from the minute they set eyes on each other, from the moment they hear each others voice, from the second they sense the other ones presence. But people overestimate the difference between a human and a savant. Savants can be broken. Their hearts and their minds can be damaged. Is it possible to love somebody, if your eyes have never seen a love so true before? Is it possible to trust a person if all that you have previously trusted have deceived you? Is it possible to not run away from love, if every other love you have experienced has been destructive, and harmful to you and your family?

Maybe all you need is somebody to show you how beautiful love can be.

Crap. I think I love her.

Right on cue, Poppy sighed and rolled onto her back, eyelids fluttering open as she blinked and registered the daylight. She stretched her arms above her head, yawning, before closing her eyes and relaxing back into the warmth of the bed.

Then, all of a sudden, her eyes sprang open once again, and she shot up in the bed gazing around the room until her eyes came to rest on me, lying in a bed exactly parallel to hers, 5 feet away, wearing nothing but sweatpants, staring at her. I cringed mentally at how creepy I must've looked, but dismissed the thought as she collapsed once again onto the bed, sighing.

'What happened last night?' Her voice ragged from sleep, she turned her head on the pillow to look at me, eyes blazing into mine as she searched for the truth.

I avoided eye contact. 'I found you in a club off Reedham street, pretty drunk and giggling with your new best friend. I said you should go home and you ... agreed with me, but you didn't want to go back to your house, so I took you back here.' That was probably the best way to deal with the situation, but I could tell from the look in her eye that she didn't believe me.

Poppy

He was lying to me.

It was difficult to tell through the painful buzzing in my head, but I could tell that he was lying to me. Something serious must've happened last night that he wasn't telling me about and I was intent on finding out what.

I sat up in the bed and turned to sit cross legged, thankful that I had not decided to change into a more club suitable outfit last night, and had stayed instead in leggings.

yayay/set?id=86624152

Fiddling with my messy hair I grabbed the beanie I saw lying to the side of the bed and slipped it onto my head, as Tristan stared at me, deep in thought. I pointed to the hat and cocked an eyebrow at him.

'Look ok?'

He grinned, eyes shining. 'Looks perfect.'

I smiled but as he stood up out of bed, revealing a set of toned abs in the form of a six pack, I swallowed a lump in my throat, trying not to look at him too hard, keeping vigorous eye contact.

He noticed, smiling cheekily at me and stretching. 'See anything you like?' He questioned me.

His smile was infectious and I found it easier to talk to him in a hotel room, with no complications of the outside world. 'On you?' I pretended to scan his body carefully. 'You know ... I can't see anything the least bit appealing.'

His smile dropped and he advanced on me, his voice lowering as he came closer. 'Are you sure about that?'

I nodded, but tensed, not liking the glint in his eye.

'One last chance to change your mind ...' He stood directly in front of me, stomach level with my eyes and I had to stretch my neck upwards to see his face, edging slowly away as he realised I was determined. 'fine then, you leave me no other option.'

I sprang up on the bed, one second too slowly as he pulled me into his chest and began to tickle me.

The one thing I can't stand.

Thirty seconds seconds later I had agreed that he was the most beautiful creature on the planet, and was sitting in-between his legs on the floor, my back resting against the front of his body, his arms wrapped around my waist as we watched tv.

'You know,' he began 'It's very useful to know that you're ticklish.' I sensed the smile on his face and frowned.

Shifting my head to look at him he smirked even more at the grumpy expression on my face. 'Ugh, that's so unfair.' With the adrenaline rush of the chase from Tristan, I had temporarily forgotten about my headache, but once recovered it came pounding back with increased ferocity. I gingerly placed a hand on my forehead and sighed. Hangovers were the painful part.

The tv drummed out the theme tune to Eastenders and I relaxed into Tristan's arms, comforted by the sound of well known voices and actions. However my headache wasn't going away anytime soon, and so I forced myself to move away from his arms in order to stand.

'Do you have any aspirin?'

Tristan creased his eyebrows together in concern and stood with me, running a hand through his hair. 'I don't think so, but I know that drinking lots of water is good for hangovers.'

I moved to grab a glass and fill it, enjoying the refreshing sensation of refreshment running down my throat. I realised how parched I actually was, moving to fill my glass again.

I smiled at Tristan. 'You're right, that did help thanks.'

I stood by the window, taking in the panorama view of London, deep in thought, when I felt a pair of arms wind around my waist. I turned in his arms to smile sadly up at him, trying to concentrate on the memories of last night. I remembered Tristan coming to find me, Linday, and a phone call to somebody but for the life of me I couldn't remember who it was to.

'Are you ok?' Tristan pulled me closer into his chest.

I wrapped my arms around his waist, enjoying the long hug and sighed. 'Yeah. I just ... I need to remember last night. I feel like I've done something ... something ... huge ... and I ...' I struggled to concentrate as Tristan traced circles with his fingers on my back, leaving shivers along my spine, as he leaned down to kiss my forehead. 'Ugh, I can't concentrate with you doing that.' I claimed as I pulled away from him to sit cross legged on the bed.

Tristan pulled his face into a half smirk and sat down next to me on the bed.

'Did I say anything weird to you?' I questioned him.

He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before looking down at me once more. 'You say weird stuff all the time Poppy, You didn't do anything more whacky that I can remember.' He winked at me, but I could tell there was something slightly forced about the action.

Before I had time to confront him, there came a knock from the door, and in strode a tall hispanic looking boy, wearing a biker jacket and worn jeans. His gaze briefly slid over to me as he walked in to the room, but he turned his attention to Tristan almost as quickly as he had glanced at me.

'Dad wants to talk to you. Something about the flight got mixed up and he's blaming you because you booked the tickets. Looks like you've got another night with hipster over here.' He jerked his head in my direction and turned on his heel to walk out the door again.

Tristan frowned. 'Don't mind Zed, he's just stressed because he's been away from his soulfinder for over a week now, and don't worry about his subtle attempts to freak you out, he won't tell anyone you're here.'

'He's your brother, the one you were telling me about? The one who had an English soulfinder like your other brother Yves?' I fiddled with a strand of hair dangling near my eyes.

Tristan nodded as he grabbed a T-shirt from a draw in the room and slipped it over his head.

'How do you feel about doing something today?'

I examined my nails, feigning disinterest. 'hmm, something like what?' I risked a glance at his face, his mouth spread in a smirk at my action.

'How about the fete in that green near here? Or do you not want to be seen in public with such an ugly human being?'

I smiled remembering our earlier discussion and he grabbed my hand lifting pulling me from my seat.

'C'mon, I'll give you a lift.' You laughed as he lifted me onto his back and piggy backed me down the stairs into the street.


End file.
